Tag Archives: frozen treats

My Miss G… My goodness, she’s growing up. At the moment, she wants nothing more than to be a teenager. 16 is the magical age she talks about most and she just can’t wait to get there {ugh},. Of course this also means she wants to do everything very teenagerish too… She wants to read grown up books, wear grown up clothes, talk in a grown up way, and basically do everything on her own – including cooking. Her absolute favourite is ‘invent cooking’, which means pulling random ingredients out of the fridge and pantry to mix up mystery concoctions {and admittedly takes some letting go on my part}, but she’s also beginning to have quite a repertoire of actual recipes she can make on her own too. These chunky monkey frozen yogurt bites are easy peasey for her to make solo and they’re also a very favourite breakfast and snack. And the best part? We almost always have a jar of them in the freezer, which means that we always have something yummy and ready to eat when needed.

As I was brainstorming some fun lunchbox ideas last week, one of the staple kids’ lunchbox snacks that came to mind was yogurt tubes. Kids love them… They’re fun, usually covered in branded characters, and sometimes even turn your tongue blue. Plus, they can be frozen ahead of time and not only stay cool until lunch or snack time, but also serve as an icepack in your lunchbox. ☺

With 1/2 a crate of mango in the fridge and our supply of banana fudgesicles and avocado kiwi pops dwindling after last week’s burst of hot weather, Gracen I set out to make a yummy new batch of popsicles this afternoon. And yummy they are! The combination of mango, pineapple, coconut, and lime makes them taste just like something you’d sip on vacation while sunning on a gorgeous beach… Delicious!

Here’s our lineup of ingredients… Pineapple chunks (we used frozen because it’s what we had on hand, but fresh would be even better), mango chunks, a lime, one ripe banana, coconut milk, and Grae’s addition – unsweetened shredded coconut.

We began by juicing our lime and threw both the juice and the pulp into our food processor…

Along with everything else, except the shredded coconut.

Then we blended everything up until completely smooth while this little monkey gave our food processor some love.

Next, we added the shredded coconut and gave the mixture just a couple of pulses to mix it in. At this point, we had a little taste test and decided to add in a teaspoon of good honey because our mango was very tart (totally optional, of course).

Now while it does mean dirtying another dish, I always like to pour our popsicle mixture into a large measuring cup before filling the moulds. It’s so much easier and quicker than clumsy me attempting to pour straight from the food processor. Of course, if you use a blender, this won’t be an issue.

After I fill the moulds, Miss G’s job is to place a ‘stick’ in each one. When she was done, she desperately wanted a popsicle to eat (particularly, “the green and blue one on the riiiiiight”) .

Luckily, the disappointment that came with me telling her they’d need to sit in the freezer for several hours first was kicked to the curb with the offer of drinking up the leftover mixture, smoothie style.

Healthy Tropical Fruit Popsicles

3 small mangos

1 cup of pineapple

1 banana

1 cup of coconut milk

juice and pulp from 1 lime

2 tablespoons of unsweetened shredded coconut

honey (optional)

Juice lime and add both the juice and pulp to a food processor or blender. Blend until smooth. Add the shredded coconut and pulse just long enough to mix it in. Taste your mixture and add a small amount of honey if desired. Pour into moulds and freeze for several hours.

Enjoy!

♥

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Only I would try to amp up the nutritional value of bananas… Haha! I kid. (Kinda.) The truth is, Miss G has been on a two ingredient ice cream kick lately. After asking for it for the third afternoon in a row, I decided it was time to switch things up a little bit. Though we’ve made frozen banana pops before (which Grae loved), I wanted to try something smaller and easier to snack on this time around. So along came the frozen banana bite. With only 3 ingredients, they’re a breeze to make, plus, dare I say they taste like banana cream pie? I do.

Serve them frozen to your excited toddler and watch them disappear. (Without a word of a lie, Gracen gobbled up our entire batch – and that was after a full meal!)

Frozen Banana Bites (that taste like banana cream pie)

2-3 large ripe (but not over ripe) bananas

3 tablespoons of roasted ground flax seed

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

Peel the bananas and slice them into coins about a half inch thick, then set aside.

Put flax seed and cinnamon into a container with a lid or zip close bag and shake. Add the banana coins to the flax mixture and shake again. Place the coated banana pieces on a parchment-lined baking sheet and put in the freezer.

After about an hour in the freezer, the banana bites will be frozen, but still a tiny bit soft, making them perfect for serving. If you aren’t serving them right away, transfer the bites into a airtight container. When you’re ready to eat them, you can serve them completely frozen, or let them sit on the counter for 5 to 10 minutes beforehand (my preference).